I shit-talked Wuthering Waves a lot when I first played it but, to my embarrassment, after I engage with its combat system more earnestly it's actually really fun and well-designed. Instead of stacking and comboing buffs like Genshin is, it's more about getting into the rhythm of each character. It's almost like a fighting game in that way.
The skill descriptions, however, suuuuuucks. There's too many proper nouns and they're all over the place so you need to read back and forth to understand how you're supposed to play the character. There's a "short version" that's shown when you demo the character but it also sucks, it barely tells you anything.
My favorite character to play right now is Taoqi, and she's dealt one of the worst hands in this.
Part of the issue is the myopia of fitting the skill descriptions in conventional gacha game fashion i.e. demarcating each skill as their own thing. This format really doesn't do Wuthering Waves's excellent combat design any favors!
I have two proposals: 1) Have one big combat description that explains what the character does more holistically and 2) Get rid of as many proper nouns as possible (while still retaining flavor and distinction between effects). The demarcated skill description should still stays, as it's tied to upgradeable combat statistics, but limit it only to what's relevant to those combat statistics.
Here's how I rewrote Taoqi's combat description, including renaming some skills. There's a bit more commentary at the bottom.
Taoqi: Blossom of Slashes
Taoqi is a Havoc-wielding defensive character that provides shield for the party and deals more damage when parrying an attack. Many of her capabilities scale with DEF.
Cast her Resonance Skill to heal her and create 3 stacks of Rocksteady Cover, which remain even when Taoqi is switched off the field. One stack of Rocksteady Cover is depleted when the active character is attacked to reduce the damage taken. The stacks are visible as floating symbols around the active character.
Her Forte Gauge can hold up to 3 stacks of Forte, which is refilled in the following conditions:
- The active character is attacked when her Rocksteady Cover exists, which create one Forte stack
- Taoqi performs Basic Attack 4, which will convert all Rocksteady Cover stacks into Forte stacks
- The duration of Rocksteady Shield ends, which will convert all remaining Rocksteady Cover stacks into Forte stacks.
If the attack button is held during a Heavy Attack, Taoqi will get into a parry-ready stance, reducing DMG taken by 35%. When she is attacked in this stance, or after 3s, she will deal damage based on her DEF to surrounding enemies, indicated by the appearance of a rose-red shell. At this point, the next 3 consecutive Basic Attacks will consume Forte stacks and be converted to a Shielding Attack.
Shielding Attack damage scales with DEF. Each Shielding Attack create a shield that can soak in damage, which is stackable and visible as a border around the HP bar.
After entering battle with her Intro Skill, Taoqi will also converts the next 3 consecutive Basic Attack into Shielding Attack.
Statistics
Statistics
Normal Attack: Concealed Edge
Deals Havoc DMG. Basic Attack can combo up to 4 times. Heavy Attack consume stamina to deal a single large damage.
Holding the button during a Heavy Attack will put Taoqi into a parry-ready stance. When attacked, or 3s after she is in this stance, she will create a shell that deals damage.
When consuming Forte stacks, her Basic Attack is converted to Shielding Attack and each attack grants shield.
Basic Attack 1 x% Basic Attack 2 x% Basic Attack 3 x% Basic Attack 4 x% Heavy Attack x% Parrying shell DMG x% DEF
Powered Attack 1 x% DEF Powered Attack 2 x% DEF Powered Attack 3 x% DEF Shield from Shielding Attack 1 x+y%DEF Shield from Shielding Attack 2 x+y%DEF Shield from Shielding Attack 3 x+y%DEF Shield duration xs
Resonance Skill: Fortified Defense
Deals damage to surrounding enemies, heals herself, and creates Rocksteady Cover.
DMG x% DEF HP Recover x+y% DEF Rocksteady Cover DMG Reduction x% Cooldown xs Energy Regen 15
Resonance Liberation: Unmovable
Launch an attack to an area in front of her, dealing Havoc DMG based on DEF.
DMG x% DEF Cooldown xs Energy Cost x Energy Regen x
Intro Skill: Defense Formation
An attack dealing Havoc DMG
DMG x Energy Regen x
Outro Skill: Iron Will
Amplify the Resonance Skill DMG of the incoming character by 38% for 14s.
So first of all I get rid of the unique naming for the Forte Gauge (Taoqi's "Resolving Caliber", Mortefi's "Annoyance", Yangyang's "Melodies", whatever). The extra flavor it adds isn't worth the confusion (it's all the same bar in the UI!).
I renamed "Rocksteady Shield" to "Rocksteady Cover" because there's already a shield mechanic (in the same character too) and this is something totally different! Using the same name just confuses people!
I renamed "Timed Counter" to "Shielding Attack" because, well, it's not a counter! It's a modified Normal Attack. I'm honestly not sure about the name (my other option was Defender's Attack), but anything is better than "Timed Counter", whatever that's supposed to mean.
I get rid of the proper nouns "Rocksteady Defense" (now just known as a "parry-ready stance") and "Strategic Parry" (now just "a shell that deals damage") because I just don't think the names are needed. They're one-time thing; you don't need to refer to them when thinking of how the whole mechanics work.
The initial combat description is what people should read to understand the character. The statistic section is only for upgrading those stats; they have short description so you have a good idea of which stat you're upgrading.
I got rid of the Forte Circuit skill in the statistics since whatever described there is already covered in the full combat description. I redistribute the relevant stats to the other skills (in this case I just place them together with Normal Attack since that's what it relates with the most), but if it needs to be separate for balance purpose, I'm sure the UI designer can do something to make it look nice.
I admit, there's probably a better, more compact way to present he statistic sections; I just can't come up with a good one right now (maybe a popup or link between the relevant part of the combat description to the statistic, who knows).
Writing this was honestly pretty cathartic (and I actually learned a bit more about Taoqi just from writing it; the in-game description is just that bad). So I might make another one for a few other characters. If you enjoy this, feel free to suggest characters!
